Real-Time Spherical Correction of Map Data

1. A method of displaying a map on a wireless communications device, the method comprising: obtaining map data for rendering the map to be displayed on the wireless communications device; determining a zoom level of the map; if the zoom level of the map exceeds a predetermined zoom level, generating corrected map data by applying a fixed spherical correction factor to the map data; if the zoom level of the map does not exceed the predetermined zoom level, generating the corrected map data by computing a spherical correction factor based on a latitude of the map; and rendering the corrected map data to display the map on a display of the wireless communications device.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the spherical correction factor is computed as a cosine of an absolute value of a latitude of a center of the map.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the fixed spherical correction factor is based on a fixed latitude of 41 degrees.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 comprising applying a first spherical correction factor for transforming vertices of a top half of the map and applying a second spherical correction factor for transforming the vertices of a bottom half of the map.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein generating the corrected map data comprises incorporating the spherical correction factor into a 3×3 transformation matrix that transforms vertices of the map from latitude and longitude coordinates into screen coordinates.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising code which when loaded into memory and executed by a processor of a wireless communications device causes the wireless communications device to: obtain map data for rendering the map to be displayed on the wireless communications device; determine a zoom level of the map; if the zoom level of the map exceeds a predetermined zoom level, generate corrected map data by applying a fixed spherical correction factor to the map data; if the zoom level of the map does not exceed the predetermined zoom level, generate the corrected map data by computing a spherical correction factor based on a latitude of the map; and render the corrected map data to display the map on a display of the wireless communications device.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 6 wherein the spherical correction factor is computed as a cosine of an absolute value of a latitude of a center of the map.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 6 wherein the fixed spherical correction factor is based on a fixed latitude of 41 degrees.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 6 comprising code for applying a first spherical correction factor for transforming vertices of a top half of the map and applying a second spherical correction factor for transforming the vertices of a bottom half of the map.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 6 wherein generating the corrected map data comprises incorporating the spherical correction factor into a 3×3 transformation matrix that transforms vertices of the map from latitude and longitude coordinates into screen coordinates.

11. A wireless communications device for displaying a map on the wireless communications device, the wireless communications device comprising: an input device to cause the wireless communications device to obtain map data for rendering the map to be displayed on a display of the wireless communications device; and a processor configured to determine a zoom level of the map and to, if the zoom level of the map exceeds a predetermined zoom level, generate corrected map data by applying a fixed spherical correction factor to the map data and to, if the zoom level of the map does not exceed the predetermined zoom level, generate the corrected map data by computing a spherical correction factor based on a latitude of the map; and a display for displaying the map using the corrected map data.

12. The wireless communications device as claimed in claim 11 wherein the processor computes the spherical correction factor as a cosine of an absolute value of a latitude of a center of the map.

13. The wireless communications device as claimed in claim 11 wherein the processor computes the fixed spherical correction factor based on a fixed latitude of 41 degrees.

14. The wireless communications device as claimed in claim 11 wherein the processor applies a first spherical correction factor for transforming vertices of a top half of the map and applies a second spherical correction factor for transforming the vertices of a bottom half of the map.

15. The wireless communications device as claimed in claim 11 wherein the processor generates the corrected map data by incorporating the spherical correction factor into a 3×3 transformation matrix that transforms vertices of the map from latitude and longitude coordinates into screen coordinates.